Dick Advocaat, the manager of Zenit St Petersburg, yesterday insisted there would be no racist behaviour by Russian supporters during tonight's Uefa Cup final against Rangers at the City of Manchester Stadium. He shrugged off a growing row over his apparent admission that his club's fans were racist and persistent accusations that they had abused Marseille's black players earlier in the competition, allegations Uefa is investigating.

"This is about a football match, not about colour," said Advocaat, who managed Rangers between 1998 and 2002. "There will be no problem at all. It has become an issue and I don't know why. It is not an issue at Zenit and there are black players in Russia."

The Dutchman's comments yesterday follow an interview with a Russian magazine in which he said he would like to sign black players but Zenit fans would not accept it. "I would be happy to sign anyone. But the fans don't like black players," he told the magazine ProSport. "Quite honestly, I do not understand how they could pay so much attention to skin colour. For me there's no difference between white, black or red. But they care."

Yesterday Advocaat claimed he had been misquoted, but disquiet over his remarks threatens to overshadow Zenit's first European final. Some 7,000-10,000 Russian fans have travelled to the UK to watch the match, with the British consulate in St Petersburg issuing 5,000 visas.

Zenit did not seek to deny Advocaat's earlier comments but said they had been strenuously attempting to wipe out racism among their fans. "You have to ask Dick about what precisely he said. Those are his words," Zenit's spokesman, Alexei Blinov, said in Manchester where Zenit trained yesterday. "Since last year we've had a serious anti-racism programme. We hang an anti-racism banner at all our games. We've also talked to fans. But at the end of the day I think this is a problem for society and not just for Zenit.

"We are in touch with Uefa about international programmes on racism. We understand that it isn't just Britain but also Uefa that takes a tough line on racism. We would like to follow this."

Black players have been an increasingly common feature in the Russian league since the mid-1990s but Zenit remain all white, with seven of tonight's probable squad Russian nationals, including the two stars Andrei Arshavin and Konstantin Zyrianov. The club, who are owned by the Russian state energy giant Gazprom, deny having an all-white policy and say their first team is made up of different nationalities and includes two South Koreans. They also have a black Russian-born player in their reserve squad.

But football experts concede that racism is still a very real problem in Russia, with first division Zenit and Moscow's Khimik attracting strong far-right support. Zenit's Nevsky fan club has been linked with racism and supporters often shout "Sieg Heil" at home matches, they add. They also make monkey noises and lob bananas, and have even been known to break into chants of "Rudolf Hess".

Although the Russian football union has publicly supported a tough anti-racism stance, almost no action is taken against racist fans. The issue provokes little indignation in the media or the general population.

"It isn't the majority. But quite a lot of Zenit fans express fascist or racist views," Oleg Shamonaev, deputy editor of ProSport magazine, said. "This is quite strange, given that it was Leningrad [now St Petersburg] that survived the siege by the Nazis in the second world war." He explained that "general racist behaviour in Russia isn't penalised. Nobody pays attention to it. This is different from many countries in Europe". The magazine had quoted Advocaat accurately, he added.

Britain's sports minister, Gerry Sutcliffe, has warned Russian fans that they may be jailed if they are found guilty of racially abusing Rangers' black players tonight. "My message to Zenit fans is simple: come here to enjoy the game and you'll be welcomed with open arms. Come here and racially abuse black players and you will feel the full force of the law," he said. Under the Football (Offences) Act 1991, racist chanting is a criminal offence, with a maximum penalty of six months' imprisonment.